Next to my artistic research, I am also involved in academic research. On this page, you can read more about my current academic research projects. I mainly focus on three themes – the Cyborg Mermaid, Inside the Autside, and #KingAlfred – but also dabble in related subjects. As an academic, my keywords are autism, cyborgs, fanart, games, languages, medievalism, mermaids, music(ology), (neuro)psychology. The Cyborg Mermaid As a PhD student at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands, I am writing my thesis about the Cyborg Mermaid, or to be more concrete: about the ways modern media empower people to create new stories based on mermaid mythology. What fascinates me most about the study of fantastic beings is that the way in which we shape them tells us so …

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A new piece of Chobits fan fiction! AO3 user Katakatica wrote this short story about Diver Clad encountering a Cyborg Mermaid…

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland discusses modernizing NAFTA at public forum at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

This morning, I was chatting with a friend about how we feel that most policies fail: because they do not consider the uniqueness of women’s and girls’ issues and needs. My friend recently spent some time in Canada, and told me about Canadian politics, in particular about their foreign policy. I am not a political scientist (and have no ambitions in that direction either), but much of what I learned about Canada this morning seems to resonate with the feminist framework that I use for the Cyborg Mermaid. I decided to write a blog about these connections, to generate some discussion and perhaps inspire soms real political scientists.

A new piece of fanfiction in the intertexual narrative of the Cyborg Mermaid! 😀 Published author Katelynn E. Koontz wrote this short story about the prehistoric world that was spoken about while the Cyborg Mermaid was in her spaceship towards earth. Thank you, Katelynn!

Every year on September 30, it is the feast of St. Jerome (347–420), a priest, confessor, theologian, historian and: Bible translator. He is even considered to be the first to have translated the Bible from Hebrew to Latin. Therefore, the International Federation of Translators chose this day to be celebrated as International Translation Day.

After Sesame Street, Star Trek has now also added an autistic looking character to the cast. In the new series, the viewers became acquainted with Sylvia Tilly, beautifully acted by Mary Wisema. Tilly appears to be an ‘Aspergirl’, a woman with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism. Why is that? Is Tilly the first ‘Trekkie’ with ‘autistic’ traits? And why is it relevant at all whether there are ‘Aspies’ or other ‘autistic characters’ in Star Trek?

Welcome / Välkommen / Witaj / Добро пожаловать / ようこそ ! My name is Martine Mussies (pronounciation) and I am an academic researcher and autistic academic. As a PhD student at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands, I am writing my thesis about the Cyborg Mermaid, or to be more concrete: about the way modern media empower people to create new stories based on mermaid mythology. What fascinates me most about the study of fantastic beings is that the way in which we shape them tells us so much about what it means to be human. Besides my research, I am a musician, I do martial arts and I study neuropsychology at the University of Chicago (via e-learning). Just like your typical Aspergirl, I am an eternal student …

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